A Girlfriend In Need
by perpetualpathology
Summary: Tom suspects his partner is feeling under the weather after she takes the day off of work. So, he feels compelled to visit her after his shift and he finds her in an unusual state.


Tom had had an unusual day at work, simply because he hadn't been working alongside his beautiful partner. At first, he'd been surprised when he found out that she had called the clinical lead to say she was unable to come in to work that day because he had hoped to talk to her about planning something for them to do at the weekend. But once he thought about it, and he considered the fact that she hadn't texted him to let him know why she was off, he had a pretty good idea why.

He also felt a little guilty that she was most likely all by herself in her flat whilst he was at work because he knew that it took a lot for her to take a day off of work - she'd come in when she had a terrible case of the flu once and still managed to keep her work standards at her usual high quality - and therefore she was probably suffering quite a lot.

So, as soon as he'd clocked off from work he raced home to pack an overnight bag, popped into the local supermarket to get a couple of bits for her and then drove straight to her home. He parked up outside of her ground floor apartment, just behind her car, walked to her front door with the carrier bag behind his back and knocked on her door.

After a minute or two, there was no response so he knocked again and then opened her letter box.

"Sam?" Tom said loudly so there was no chance for her not to hear him. He knew she was in because her car was there, she probably wasn't well enough to go for a run and he could see the glow of her TV through the net curtains in the living room. "It's me. I can go if you want, I just want to check that you're okay." Tom said kindly as he squatted down to speak through the letter box. "Just text me or something and then I'll go-" Tom was interrupted as he heard the chinking of keys and then the door slowly opened to reveal his girlfriend who stood in a pair of baggy grey tracksuit bottoms and a white camisole top. Her thick, tangled hair was all over the place and she certainly didn't look like she was pleased to see him like she was usually - her expression was almost emotionless, as though she had a pained, sad look in her eyes.

"I wasn't ignoring you. I just wasn't going to open it because I thought it was someone selling something." Sam sighed as she leant in the doorway.

"Okay." Tom nodded. "How're you feeling? Because if it's how you look, then you must be feeling awful." He joked halfheartedly.

"Gee, thanks." She replied sarcastically as she snaked her arms around her abdomen and applied gentle pressure to her uterus which had been causing her pain all day.

"I'm joking, you look beautiful." Tom stated. "Even if you do look like you've been dragged through a bush backwards with hair like that." He quipped. "Look, I got you a couple of things just in case because I didn't think you'd be feeling up to going out shopping today. I didn't want to seem too interfering or creepy or weird but... Here." Tom announced hesitantly as he took out the bag from behind his back and Sam could tell from the bright colours inside of the bag that he had gotten her some sanitary products alongside a few other bits.

"I was gonna text you to get me some of these actually but..." She trailed off as she took the bag from his hands.

"But what?" Tom asked with a mischievous grin that he had done something right, but all he received in reply was a shrug of her shoulders. "You're embarrassed aren't you?" He smirked.

"Well we've barely been going out for a couple of months I didn't want to make you feel awkward or scare you off." Sam admitted.

"Maybe not but that hair is doing a good job." Tom quipped.

"Will you stop commenting about my hair?" Sam moaned.

"Alright, sorry. But you should know that it's okay to talk to me about periods or anything else alright? I'm remarkably understanding for a bloke." Tom stated quirkily.

"Thanks but there's nothing to talk about. I just have to wait and I should be better by tomorrow." Sam stated

"Alright. Well, are you okay if I stay the night? I've got a bag in the car but if you'd rather-"

"No, no. I want you to stay." Sam interrupted and Tom smiled before he quickly went back to his car and grabbed his duffle bag. He then went back to her front door, stepped into her home and closed the door behind him.

"Come here." He smiled as he wrapped his arms around her back and gently rubbed his arms up and down.

"How did you know why I wasn't at work?" Sam mumbled into his chest. "Zoe didn't say anything, did she?"

"No, no." Tom replied reassuringly. "I was a bit confused when I first found out you weren't coming in but once I'd thought it through, I just worked it out. It's been exactly four weeks since we went out for a meal on a Friday night and we had to get a taxi back rather than walk because you said you'd eaten too much and weren't feeling well, but I knew what was really wrong. And you didn't drink which I'm guessing was because you were taking painkillers." Tom explained as he pulled apart and Sam just looked down at the floor. "Plus you've been a bit moody with me these last few days." He added in a very serious tone.

"Really? Sorry Tom, I didn't even realise-"

"Hey, it's alright. I was joking." Tom smirked. "Right, I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that you haven't eaten much today. Am I right?" He asked and Sam slowly nodded. "Right, what do you fancy?" He asked. "It's your choice. We can order a takeaway, or I could go to the shops and get something else if you fancy something it." Tom stated as he dumped his bag on the floor in the hallway.

"I'm really not hungry. You can order something in if you want or help yourself to whatever's in the kitchen but I don't want anything at the moment. Maybe later." Sam replied as she walked through to the living room and Tom frowned as he realised that she'd spend the whole day curled up in the armchair because besides it was a table with empty bottles of water on it, a box of painkillers, the TV remote, her phone and some tissues and then on the floor in front of it was her double duvet which she'd probably been tucked under.

"Is it always this bad?" Tom asked curiously. "Painful, I mean." He added.

"No. It's just... Sometimes I have to take the day off of work because moving just makes the pain worse." Sam stated as she slowly sat down in the armchair and pulled her duvet over her lap. "I can't have ibuprofen so I have to manage with paracetamol." She admitted.

"Oh, why can't you have it? Are you allergic?"

"Not necessarily... It gives me diarrhoea as a side effect and I'd rather have cramps than that." Sam stated quietly.

"Alright. That's uncommon but not unheard of. Are you sure it's the ibuprofen? It might've just been bad timing with a stomach bug or something." He suggested.

"No, I've tried it several times and it always has the same effect."

"Have you eaten with it?"

"Yep, and had it after a large meal. I've tried taking a reduced dosage, the liquid versions, crushing it up and eating it with food; I just can't have it."

"Okay. What about codeine?" Tom suggested.

"You can't buy it over the counter without being mixed with ibuprofen and I'm can't take it from work."

"Okay. I'm just sorry you didn't tell me earlier, I would've gotten away from work."

"There's nothing you could've done." Sam shrugged.

"No but I just feel bad that you've been by yourself in pain all day." Tom admitted.

"Well don't." Sam replied simply. "Now shush. I've been catching up on 'Orange Is The New Black' all day." She ordered as she brought her knees up to her chest and got as comfortable as she could in her armchair before she pressed play on her TV remote. Tom smiled as he watched Sam out of the corner of his eye because she was clearly into watching the series and it was taking her mind off of things which could only be a good thing whilst she was in pain. So, despite the fact that he hadn't watched the show before so he didn't know what it was about, he just sat back and relaxed on the sofa knowing that his girlfriend was okay after he'd been worrying about her all day.

* * *

**11pm**

After calling it a night, Tom had used the bathroom first and then Sam, before they both went to get into bed. But when Tom carried the duvet into the bedroom for her, he found a black bath towel laid horizontally in the middle of the mattress. It was slightly more towards the side that she slept on but because she had been sleeping alone the previous night, she had obviously been sleeping more towards the middle for more room. He frowned in confusion at first, but after a few moments, he realised that it was there because she didn't want to stain her white bed sheets or mattress.

As soon as Sam realised that the towel was still there, she froze. She'd forgotten it was there and her cheeks flushed red.

"How many times have you told a patient that they shouldn't be embarrassed because you've seen or heard it all before?" Tom asked rhetorically.

"But you're not my doctor, you're my partner." Sam protested as she went to remove the towel but Tom stopped her.

"Leave it there, if you want to sleep on it, it's fine. One little towel isn't going to make a difference to me." He stated reassuringly as he climbed into bed and Sam slowly did so too. She laid on her side, facing away from Tom on top of her towel with her knees slightly bent and her arms around her abdomen. "Night night. I love you." Tom whispered as he switched the light out and pulled the duvet over the two of them. He shuffled forward, wrapped his arms around her and then rested his head just behind hers.

"Thank you for coming over and seeing if I'm alright." Sam murmured gratefully. "I appreciate it."

"Well I don't appreciate you showing me that bloody TV show because now I've got to watch it from episode one to catch up." He smirked and Sam smiled to herself before she attempted to get to sleep.

* * *

**2am**

Tom rolled over in the night and there was something inside of him that made him wake up because he just knew he had to check on his girlfriend during the night to see if she was feeling any better. But as he ever so slowly moved his arm across the bed so that he could pretend he was just wrapping his arm around her, he felt nothing. He then moved his hand with more force and realised that the bed besides him was empty, and in the corner of his eye was a little bit of light escaping from under the bedroom door.

He got out of bed, and then opened the bedroom door to find that in the living room, Sam was curled up in the armchair, fidgeting and he was sure he heard her involuntarily moan a bit.

"Hey, are you alright?" Tom questioned worriedly as he went over and knelt down in front of her. "Why did you get out of bed?" Tom asked but he received no reply. "Sam if it's me being here then I'll sleep on the sofa, you get back into bed-"

"No, it's not you." Sam sighed. "I just can't sleep and I end up tossing and turning and I get frustrated because I can't get to sleep so it's better just to wait until I _have_ to fall asleep rather than _trying_ to go to sleep." Sam explained disjointedly. "That didn't make sense did it?"

"No, it's alright. I get what you mean. But come back to bed, we can have the lamp on and just talk until you fall asleep." Tom ordered softly as he held his hand out and reluctantly, Sam took it, slowly got up and then padded back into the bedroom. They got into bed, Tom cuddled her from behind again only this time he left the bedside lamp on and he held his phone in front of them as he opened an application.

"What're you doing?" Sam asked.

"I've got a kindle account on here, I'll read a book to you and I bet it'll get you off to sleep."

"You'll read me a book?" Sam moaned.

"Trust me, I bet that it'll work." Tom stated confidently.

"What is it book anyway?"

"Well, I got a new book a couple of days ago and I haven't started reading it yet." Tom stated as he opened the book, and once he had, Sam laughed a bit.

"50 shades of grey?"

Yeah. Come on, it'll be romantic to read it together." Tom stated. "You just have to close your eyes and listen to my voice."

"Fine." Sam huffed as she snuggled her face into her pillow and then closed her eyes. Tom then began to read the book to her, word for word until she fell asleep. It wasn't until he got to the end of the second chapter that he knew she was fast asleep, but when he did, he put the book aside, flicked the light out and then remained as still as he could so that he didn't accidentally wake her up. He felt proud that his idea had gotten her off to sleep when she had clearly been in a lot of pain but the most important thing was that she was no longer suffering. And as she rolled over in her sleep and then snuggled her face into his chest, he knew he was looking after her like a good boyfriend should.

* * *

**Sorry if this isn't very good but this idea just came to me and writing oneshots is a lot easier than multi-chapter fics at the moment because I've started college 3 weeks ago and there is _so_ much work there to do!**


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